Emily Dickinson Essays & Research Papers

Best Emily Dickinson Essays

Classic Poetry Series
Emily Dickinson
- poems -
Publication Date: 2004
PoemHunter.Com - The World's Poetry Archive
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Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, the daughter of a lawyer. She was educated at Amherst Academy (1834-47) and Mount Holyoake (1847-8). In her early years she appears to have been a bright and sociable young scholar, but in her twenties she began to withdraw from the outside world. By her forties...

The sense of belonging shapes who we are as a person, it gives us our own unique identity, and it is in the human nature to need it. We feel a connection with people who belong to the same thing but it also distances us from those who don’t.
Emily Dickinson portrays her perception of belonging in her poems through the use of literary devices and themes. These devices help her express her feelings and thoughts on the main concepts of nature, death and love.
In ‘What Mystery Pervades a Well’ the...

Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a poet in the mid-eighteen hundreds. She mostly lived as a homebody, but was not an introvert. She had friends and liked to talk to people, so she was usually lonely, because she liked to stay at home. Many of her poems are about her loneliness and isolation. One poem that shows her lonesomeness is “The Loneliness One dare not sound”. Another one of her poems is called “I like to see it lap the Miles”. Also, the poem “If You Were Coming in the Fall” talks...

Dequan
Emily Dickinson
4 March 2011
''Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. She lived there all of her life. Her grandfather was the founder of Amherst College, and her father Edward Dickinson was a lawyer who served as the treasurer of the college. He also held various political offices''. (LaBlanc, (2001). Emily's mother Emily Norcross Dickinson was a very reserve person. She didn't speak much but she taught Emily Dickinson all that she needed to know for...

1,190 Words | 4 Pages

All Emily Dickinson Essays

Jessica Francis
Mrs. Byrne Pd. 6-7
English 120
2 May 2013
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”: An Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Style
Emily Dickinson was an exceedingly eccentric poet of the Romanticism movement, whose fascination with death and the afterlife is embodied in her poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” The piece opens from the viewpoint of a female speaker, who is called upon by the personified character of Death to take the journey to the afterlife....

The writer that I chose is Emily Dickinson. The first poem that I chose from her was "I'm "Wife"--I've finished that--". I am comparing this poem to, "Wild Nights--Wild Nights!. I will be discussing the similarity in writing between the two, each who have a different theme. I have considered the line breaks throughout the poem, stanza breaks, rhyming, repetition, line lengths, sound systems, settings, structures, and the use of figurative language.
The themes of these poems are different in...

﻿
From the selections given, I chose to write this essay on Emily Dickinson. I chose three of her poems to discuss in which I felt all three of them were dealing with the subject of death. The three I chose are I heard a fly buzz when I died, Because I could not stop for death, and The Bustle in a House.
Before I get into the poems themselves, I would like to discuss Emily Dickinson herself. Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst at the Homestead on December 10, 1830. According to the Emily...

“Dickinson and Whitman: Breakthrough Poets”
By Maggie Smith
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are two poets that helped shape the way we think about poetry. While their backgrounds and writing styles were quite different, both Dickinson and Whitman challenged accepted forms of writing and are regarded today as important poets.
Dickinson and Whitman had very different upbringings. Dickinson was raised in Amherst, Massachusetts and had two siblings. She was always put in the best schools...

Emily Dickinson
[pic]
The Brain -- is wider than the Sky
The Brain -- is wider than the Sky -- A
For -- put them side by side -- B
The one the other will contain C
With ease -- and You -- beside – B
The Brain is deeper than the sea -- D
For -- hold them -- Blue to Blue -- E
The one the other will absorb -- F
As Sponges -- Buckets -- do --...

Janet Lester
Professor Stewart
Eng 1020
“Uncertain of the Uncertain”
Interpreted By Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson wrote very distinctive poetry on the delight and twinge of existence. Her poetry is dense, sharp but sometimes vague. In selecting two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “Because I could not stop for Death," and "I felt a Funeral in my Brain", I noticed that in one poem “ I felt a Funeral in my Brain”, Dickinson presents unsettling images about death such as being aware,...

Mike ******
AP Language
30 March 2012
The Maverick: Emily Dickinson
According to psychoanalytic literary criticism, an individual’s personal life, general view of the world, and personal experience, such as past life tragedies and traumas, largely affect the product of his or her self-expression in terms of literature, poetry, and other forms of expression (Brizee and Tompkins). Emily Dickinson, a Massachusetts native, is widely acclaimed for her nonconformist-use of authentic writing...

Literary Analysis of the poetry of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous authors in American History, and a good amount of that can be attributed to her uniqueness in writing. In Emily Dickinson's poem "Because I could not stop for Death," she characterizes her overarching theme of Death differently than it is usually described through the poetic devices of irony, imagery, symbolism, and word choice.
Emily Dickinson likes to use many different forms of poetic devices and...

In Emily Dickinson’s, “Because I could not stop for Death”, the use of imagery with sensory language as well as personification to reveal the persuasion of the readers awareness about death. As soon as the poem begins, Dickinson begins giving attributes to death as if it is a spectacular moment in our lives.
Emily Dickinson expresses her revolt against the predictable awareness of the hereafter, and the standards maintained by civilization in that period. Right in the first stanza, Dickinson...

Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is one of the most famous American poets. She wrote many poems throughout her lifetime, but it was not until after her death that she became famous. She wrote about death and life, love and separation, and God. She wrote about topics like these because she was inspired by the experiences in her life. Throughout her life, she dealt with problems that caused her to seclude herself, wear only a while dress, and write poems. Many have questioned what caused her...

Using 712 discuss Emily Dickenson’s presentation of ideas of mortality and immortality in this poem. In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how it is related to other poems you have studied.
Emily Dickenson’s language in the poem is very unusual and thought provoking because she personifies ‘immortality’, she suggests that immortality is a being and can hold a carriage. Her representations of death are also personified, saying death has ‘kindly...

Emily Dickinson
Albert Camus once said, “A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.” Camus means that a work of art is what an artist uses to confess what is deeply in his or her art. Artists use their talents to express the emotion they are feeling or expressed the emotion they’ve felt before. Artists even use their life experiences as inspiration to their art. They want to bring a certain message into their art so other people can understand the true emotion behind...

EMILY DICKINSON
(1830-1886)
This handout was prepared by Dr. William Tarvin, a retired professor of literature. Please visit my free website www.tarvinlit.com. Over 500 works of American and British literature are analyzed there for free.
Text used: Jahan Ramazani, Richard Ellmann, and Robert O’Clair, eds., The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, 3rd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2003.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Whitman and Dickinson "all but invented American...

The Religious Influence on the Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Religion and spirituality can affect different people’s lifestyles in different ways. In the case of Emily Dickinson, her religion affected her writing. Emily Dickinson seemed to have written her poems based by religious influence; the poems “Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church” and “Because I could not stop for Death” are both examples of how religion influenced her poetry.
Emily Dickinson did not at all have a sort of a rough...

Jasmine Cannon
Prof. McDade
American Lit II
June 27, 2011
Emily Dickinson: American Poet
I chose to do my essay over Emily Dickinson who is known as the American Poet. Emily’s poems were often recognized by many different poets and also by several readers due to the fact that she was easy to relate to. Also Dickinson wrote poems that created a significant sign of imagery that created a unique lyrically style of writing. Although half of her work was written during the Civil...

Hillary Adams
Instructor Child
English 1302.32
16 April 2012
Death
Emily Dickinson, who is now considered to be a great American poet, was not a well-known writer during her life in the mid-19th century. Although she was recognized for her work, most people thought it to be “eccentric” and unconventional. Her poems were “usually altered significantly” to fit the conventional rules of that particular era. She wrote “nearly 2,000 poems during her life time,” most of which were found after...

EMILY DICKINSON
Emily Dickinson lived in an era of Naturalism and Realism (1855-1910). She lived in a period of The Civil War and the Frontier. She was affected by her life and the era she lived in. She also had many deaths in her family and that's part of the reason that she was very morbid and wrote about death.
Emily Dickinson grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century. As a child she was brought up into the Puritan way of life. She was born on December 10, 1830 and died...

Emily Dickinson's Obsession with Death
Death is a major theme in the works of Emily Dickinson. The poems of Emily Dickinson show an obsession with death. The poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death,"This is oneof the best of those poems in which Emily triumphs over death by acceptiong it,calmly,civilly, as befits a gentlewomen receiving the attentions of a gentleman" (Sewall 125).
In one of her poems "Because I Could not stop for Death," death is a portrayed as a gentleman who comes to...

﻿Shea Dunn
Mrs. Rush
English8
4-23-14
Emily Dickinson
When Emily Dickinson writes she writes as an observer. When she sees a wave crashing down on the soft sand it may remind her of a hard time she went through and how it went smoother in the end. No poet has created more imagery then Emily Dickinson. Dickinson sees things through her past experience and her perceptions on certain things. Dickinson has lived a hard long life but it all contributed for her in the end throughout her poems to...

﻿Explore the context for Emily Dickinson’s poetry and how this context may have influenced its style and content.
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet who was born in Amherst, “a quiet academic village in the farming district of Massachusetts, a hundred miles west of Boston” where “she had lived... obscurely all her life”. She was born on December 30, 1830 into a successful, prominent and respected family within the community.
In respect to her character in the early years of her...

How can a lonesome person change the face of lyric poetry? Well Emily Dickinson did and she lived immensely isolated throughout her adulthood in her family home. Emily Dickinson, a lyric poet and a Puritan from Amherst, Massachusetts became one of the most known and popular lyric poet. Lyric poetry conveys the thoughts and expressions that the poet feels (“Lyric Poetry”). Even though a profusion of her work is concise, her works till impacted the concept of lyric poetry. Her writing...

B) The riddle we can guess
We speedily despise -
Not anything is stale so long
as yesterday’s surprise -
How important is the idea of riddling in Emily Dickinson’s poetry? Cover a range of poems in your answer, and discuss at least four of them in close detail.
During the late nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) featured as one of the few female poets in the largely male-dominated sphere of American literature. Although she authored 1800 poems,...

The Life of Emily Dickinson
Although she lived a seemingly secluded life, Emily Dickinson's many
encounters with death influenced many of her poems and letters. Perhaps one of
the most ground breaking and inventive poets in American history, Dickinson has
become as well known for her bizarre and eccentric life as for her incredible
poems and letters. Numbering over 1,700, her poems highlight the many moments
in a 19th century New Englander woman's life, including the deaths of some of
her...

Comparing and Contrasting Poems
Did you know that Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 800 poems? And less than a dozen of those poems were published during her lifetime! If you want to read a great poem I’d suggest, “Hope is a Thing with Feathers” and “It was not Death, For I Stood up”.
Emily Dickinson wrote both poems, but they are vastly different in themes. The first poem “Hope is a Thing with Feathers” is an inspirational piece written about hope. The second piece “It was not Death, For I...

It is assumed by the reader that a bird is the embodiment of hope when Emily Dickinson states, " that could abash the little bird," and because of this an important question to ask is why Dickinson chooses a bird to be the symbol of hope in her poem: "Hope' is the thing with feathers" (7). Each metaphor in Dickinson's work presents another physical aspect of birds that can be paralleled to the spiritual effects that hope has on a human being. These physical aspects include the ability to...

The poetry of Emily Dickinson is the embodiment of transcendentalism. It is both pondering and appreciative of human nature and the world in which human nature exists. In her poetry, Dickinson exhibits the questioning spirit characteristic to the spiritual hunger of the era during which she lived and expresses her curiosity concerning many of the cornerstones of the human experience.
In one of her poems, Dickinson proclaimed that she “saw New Englandly.” She possessed a vision shaped by...

﻿Hali Jane
The Individualistic Poet
Emily Dickinson grew up in a strict moral society which caused her to take a stand and change society through her poetry. Being from the Victorian era, there were many big transformations politically, economically, as well as socially. Trapped in a small, four-walled house, she hardly ever saw the light of day. That within itself is enough to drive anyone mad! However, that is when her individualistic imagination, ink, and paper bonded to create...

Compare/Contrast Whitman & Dickinson * English P 4 * 2/2/06
When comparing writers, or musicians, or artists, it's really difficult to say who is better or who is more deserving of recognition. I say this because, in my mind, it is unfair and wrong to make competition between forms of art, its like saying that blue is better then yellow; who's to decide something like that? Good for the Grammy's, but music to me is the same way. There is no reason why my song is better or worse then yours,...

Emily Dickinson, regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, is also well known for her unusual life of self imposed social seclusion. Living a life of simplicity and seclusion, she yet wrote poetry of great power; questioning the nature of immortality and death. Her different lifestyle created an aura; often romanticized, and frequently a source of interest and speculation. But ultimately Emily Dickinson is remembered for her unique poetry. Within short, compact phrases she expressed...

Emily Dickinson is regarded as one of America’s greatest poets; she was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson was well educated and attended Mount Holyoke Seminary, although she only attended for one year, the longest time she ever spent away from home. Dickinson would go on to live a very reclusive life, in a sort of self-imposed solitude. Dickinson’s early years were not without turmoil however, and the death of several close friends and family members would prompt her to question...

An individual’s perceptions of belonging evolve in response to their interaction with their world. Discuss this view with detailed reference to your prescribed text and the set audio related text.
Belonging is an integral desire of human nature; it is the perceptions held by an individual, which enables them to build connections with themselves, and with others. An individual’s perceptions of belonging evolve in response to their interaction with their world, due to the greater understanding...

﻿In 1859 Emily Dickinson wrote a poem about death. In 1861 she rewrote that poem with very different imagery making it a lot darker. The poem itself is rather short, only two stanzas. The first stanza is only changed by one word, though its meaning is significant. The second stanza however changes completely, from light and spring like to dark and wintery. There is also significant change in punctuation and additional dashes in the second piece. This is a classic characteristic of Emily...

﻿Through her use of imagery in ‘the soul have bandaged moments’ Dickinson is able to show how fear leads her Soul to feel captured. Images of horror and fright are contrasted with images of freedom and happiness after the soul manages to breakthrough the hopelessness. The escape come’s to an abrupt end ‘the horror welcomes her again’. The imagery of shackles and staples is a representation of slaves. Now the speaker’s soul is a slave to their own fear, evidently reasonable for their own...

Bibliography
Emily Dickinson is a well-known American poet. According to Poets.org, she was born on December 10, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a young child, Emily proved to be a bright student. It is mentioned in poets.org that she was educated at Amherst Academy from 1840 to 1847 and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary from 1847 to 1848. In her opinion, her real education took place in the family library. There she indulged herself with Shakespeare, Sir Thomas Browne, John Keats, Robert...

Emily Dickinson’s Poetry
There is a lot more to poetry than just the words themselves. “What William Shakespeare called, “the mind’s eye” also plays a role” (Borus34). What that means is that your experiences and thoughts will add to your understanding. Dickinson had an active mind and a style so unique and unusual with her writing. Something that was very unusual about her writing was that she never put a title to her poems. Just like many poets, she used a wide assortment of literary devices...

5280372
Literary Analysis 1
Question#3
Appropriate Definition of Solitude
The poem “Solitude” by Emily Dickinson is a poem that gives an absolutely appropriate definition for the word solitude. The poem is about a man who is left in a state of loneliness and solitude. In my opinion, the solitude that was discussed in this poem is not the just solitude that just merely means loneliness, but the complete emptiness of life. Throughout the poem Emily Dickinson portrays a very dark...

Emily Dickinson Final Test Study Guide “The Soul selects her own Society” 1. When does the soul shut the door?
2. How does the soul react to the chariots and the emperor? 3. After the soul chooses one society, she sometimes does what? 4. What can you infer about the soul from the words shuts, unmoved, and close? 5. What does the language of the poem demonstrate about the poet? 6. What does the soul determine about a person? “This is my letter to the World” 7. What does the ending of “This is...

Belinda Johnson
EN 371-51
Dr. La Guardia, David
November 15, 2011
A. One pro/con response to a recent article or articles of criticism on any of the texts in the course.
Pros and Cons of Emily Dickinson
As discussed in class, the difficulty of poetry could go a far distance. There is no introduction, background or prologue to poetry. It is often a story within a few lines. So, when reading poetry it is important to recognize and understand the metaphors and the symbolism that it...

ʻBelonging to a certain entity is the result of a particular identity. Discuss.ʼ
The concept of belonging relates to the complex relationship of and individual, the natural world, and the way in which they interact with the groups around them to form a sense of self. In this circumstance, the entity of friendship or ideally, belonging to a group, is a product of the personas own identity which is exempliﬁed through a sense of self. The collective poetic works of Emily Dickinson explores the...

Cat Carr
Questioning Faith: Emily Dickinson’s Struggle with Religion Through her Poetry
Emily Dickinson was a religious person, but she always questioned faith and religion in her poetry. She seems to not take a solid stance in the debate between science and faith. However, Dickinson seemed to particularly struggle with the idea of “faith” and what it really meant. This is evident in most of her poetry, but two poems that indicative of this are “Faith is a fine invention” and “I heard a Fly...

Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson both had different and similar views, which influenced how they wrote their poetry. Their social context, life experiences, and gender are reflected in their poetry. Emily Dickinson focused a lot on death and her struggles of being a woman during her time. Her poems often described the inner state of mind. Waltman attempted to combine universal themes with individual feelings and experiences, such as his personal experiences with the Civil War. Whitman and...

﻿Mica Hughes
Carney
English Lit 2326
2/14/2015
Emily Dickinson’s Poetry Theme Analysis
Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 to Andrew & Emily Dickinson in Amherst, Massachusetts. Emily spent almost her entire life as a recluse, living in her upstairs bedroom on the family’s homestead, writing poetry until her death in May, 1886. Her poetry and letters went unrecognized until after her death, when her younger sister, Lavinia and a family friend,...

Explication on Emily Dickinson Poem: Deterioration of the Brain
Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral in my Brain,” 340 [280] exemplifies two meanings in the poem. The speaker is either losing her mind or she is having some serious pains in her head that makes her wish she were deceased. The speaker sight sees the machineries of the human mind under pressure and attempts to copy the stages of a mental breakdown through the overall metaphor of a funeral. The mutual ceremonials of a funeral are used by...

Through the literary and visual deconstruction of Emily Dickinson’s poems “What mystery pervades a well!” and “I have been hungry all the years,’ as well as Phillip Toledano’s visual piece “Days with my father,” it may be apparent that both composers paradoxically explore the notion of belonging and may be suggesting that contrasting experiences with belonging acts as a catalyst in constructing individual identity and their understanding of their sense of belonging.
Both Dickinson and...

Annotated Bibliography
Agrawal, Abha. Emily Dickinson, Search for Self. New Delhi: Young Asia Publications, 1977. N. Pag. Print.
This book shows what Emily’s vision was and the purpose of her poetry. The author suggests that the purpose of her poetry was Dickinson’s attempt to find her identity. This would help me in writing my thesis because I can look at which poems could be identified as being “feminists” or not.
Anderson, Charles. Emily Dickinson's Poetry: Stairway of Surprise. New...

﻿Why does Emily Dickinson use the dash?
To indicate interruption or abrupt shift in thought.
To keep a note of uncertainty . Dashes are fluid and indicate completion, at the same time it’s a way of being in uncertainty. Dashes lend into without cutting off meaning.
It reaches out yet holds at bay simultaneously.
The dash both joins sentences so that they have a boundary in common and resists that joining: it connects and separates.
It is a falling away, an indefinite rather than a...

Emily Dickinson is one of America’s most recognized female poets of the nineteenth century. Dickinson’s unique style of writing is what set her apart from most poets of her time. Her compressed and forceful wording made it possible for her to place more meaning into fewer words; this is seen in Dickinson’s poem, “Much Madness is Divinest Sense.” At first glance, Dickinson’s poem seems misleadingly short and simple with only eight lines and an obvious theme of madness versus sanity; however, on...

Emily Dickinson’s odd lifestyle of reclusion had a profound effect on the way she viewed certain aspects of life. The author was said to be an introvert, and permitted very limited contact to a small group of trusted friends. Although she was a very private person, readers get an intimate look into her thoughts and opinions through her work. A large number of her poems discuss death in a light that almost seems inviting No doubt influenced by her odd lifestyle. Her attitude toward dying is...

﻿Trish Diggins
Ms. Ridolf
American Literature/C
3 January 2014
Emily Dickinson portrays many different themes throughout her poems. Born in Massachusetts, and having being brought up in a society that is full of judgment and perfectionists, Emily lived in solitude for about 20 years. She is known for her inspiring yet beautiful poems she has written. In “Hope Is The Thing With Feathers”, Emily proves a message that is analyzed and has given a great deal of inspiration to her readers. This poem...

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born on 10th December, 1830, in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts and was raised in a strict Calvinistic home. Amherst, was 50 miles from Boston, had become well known as a center for Education, based around Amherst College. Emily’s family were pillars of the local community; theirs house was known as “The Homestead” or “The Mansion” was often used as a meeting place for distinguished visitors. (“Brief Biography of Emily Dickinson.”) and (Beers, G. Kylene, Lee...

Belonging is the idea of being part of something where you are accepted. Individuals are accepted through the relationships and connections made with other individuals, groups and family. These ideas of belonging can be explored through the poetry of Emily Dickinson. In her poem, “This is my letter to the world,” Dickinson demonstrates the element of her desire to belong through a metaphorical letter. This desire can similarly be seen through her poem “I had been hungry all the years,” in which...

cember 2012
"Emily Dickinson's original approach to poetry results in startling and thought-provoking moments in her work"
Give your response to the poetry of Emily Dickinson in the light of this statement. Support your points with suitable reference to her poems.
Emily DIckinson is a wonderful, idiosyncratic poet, who's original and powerful poetry is marked by startling and thought-provoking moments, defining Dickinson's poetry. Dickinson describes in shocking detail, moments of...

Because I Could Not Stop for Death
In the Poem ‘Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Emily Dickinson uses symbolism and allegory to portray a woman’s voyage to internal life. Emily’s main symbols in the poem are to hide the true meaning of the symbols.
In the first stanza the first symbol is introduced in the lines “I could not stop for Death- He kindly stopped for me-.” I these lines Emily explains how busy the woman is and she can’t stop for death. Dickinson then says “He” who is death takes...

Emily Dickinson, the Feminist Author
Emily Dickinson is recognized as one of the greatest American poets. Emily was born to a very prominent family on December 10, 1830. After she had finished her schooling, Dickinson embarked on a lifelong course of reading. Her calling as a poet began in her teen years. She came into her own style as an artist in a short period of time. This time in her life was intense and filled with creativity. This resulted in her composing, revising, and saving...

﻿
An Analysis of Emily Dickinson
Studying the poetry of Dickinson is like journeying through the poet’s life. I spare no compliment and sympathy to compare Dickinson to a lost angel, who descended upon the world but was wounded by the foul realities. With philosophical monologue and lasting words, she left the world the charm of loneliness, wisdom, and desperate love.
“Emily the Belle of Amherst” had an adored childhood in an idyllic town with her well-off family, just like the beginning...

Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “Unto My Books So Good To Turn” and “Contrast”, show different sides of her unusual personality. Ironically, both works choose encounters with people as opportunities to provide glimpses into a lonely, reclusive life.
Dickinson was an educated woman, having attended Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, as well as the daughter of a prominent attorney. Although she was outgoing in her youth, she disliked being away from home and increasingly...

Michael Salvucci Mrs. Comeau English 10 Honors Death, Pain, and the Pursuit of Peace Although Emily Dickinson’s poetry is profoundly insightful, her poems have a very confinedpan of subjects and themes. Most likely due to her early life and social reclusion, Dickinson’s poetry is limited to three major subjects: death, pain, and on a somewhat lighter note, nature. Dickinson’s poetry is greatly influenced by her early life as she led an extremely secluded and pessimisticlife. In her early...

﻿Jessica Lynch
Professor J. S. Ward
English 270
August 9, 2014
Individual Analysis: “I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Emily Dickinson wrote a masterpiece of a poem called, “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”. The simplicity of the poem is easy to understand and to articulate what the author is portraying. The theme of the poem would be that there are “nobodies” in this world because when you’re a “somebody” life would be difficult. Along with the theme there are a variety of literary elements that...

Emily Dickinson is an American poet of exclusion, whose writing consists of passionate and emotional eccentric meanings with much complexity. Her poems interpret her relationship with society, where she struggles to maintain her independence and needs to isolate from society to maintain this. Dickinson’s use of structure, syntax and rhyme are complex and do not conform to the norms of poetic structure, which is a parallel to Emily’s peculiar lifestyle.
Dickinson’s poem ‘A prison gets to be...

Poems by Emily Dickinson commonly include a light airy atmosphere. She stresses the magical, down-to-earth, genuinely nice feeling a book can give a person. Even as most of the poems were created out of spontaneity, most of her works are meant to serve a concentrated purpose. Two of her poems, “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church” and “There is no Frigate like a Book” portray her message of kind but innovative nature in exceedingly disparate ways. Although they include similar literary devices...

De'atra L Jolly
Word Count
Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson comparison
10/04/06
Lit. 3200
It is amazing how the poets Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes have massive differences in their cultural and educational backgrounds yet they have writing styles that are so much alike in the poems Wild Nights  Wild Nights by Dickinson and Desire by Hughes.
In Dickinson's poem she begins by asking a question." Were I with thee?" she is asking the person she is longing for, were...

If you were coming in the Fall
Famous writer Emily Dickinson is well known for expressing depression and love in her poems. Some people believe that this is because of a traumatic emotional experience she went through in her late twenties or early thirties. There are multiple ways and techniques she uses to show her feelings in her poems. In If you were coming in the Fall, Dickinson uses a variety of different techniques to show her feelings for a loved one known only as "you."...

Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” is a significant poem in that it highlights the importance the subject of death had on her work, which more importantly reveals how much of Dickinson’s thoughts were those of a metaphysical nature. In the process of reading the poem it allows one to fully experience the scope of Emily Dickinson’s genius which is an amalgamation of emotions, dynamic use of poetic techniques, and metaphysical thoughts.
Much of Emily Dickinson’s genius can be...

Emily Dickinson Paper
Alex Lesnick
May 7, 2002
Period 1
Written word is perhaps the most powerful medium that humans have created to express their thoughts. A person can express a myriad of emotions through pen and paper, ranging from hope and happiness to morbid obsessions and anxiety. Written words, unlike spoken words, are for eternity. Once a thought is written down, anyone can read it, interpret it, ponder it, or question it, until it is destroyed. On the other hand, if a...

Emily Dickinson's poem "It was a quiet way" is the story of her lover and the feelings she has when she's in his company. She describes how the world changes and becomes almost unfamiliar simply because the only thing that matters is him. The rest of the universe, time, and the seasons all become insignificant and almost non-existent in his presence. She feels the same way as he does about her and so begins their relationship
He quietly asks her if she is his and she replies not with her voice...

Let’s Be Glad Mirrors Only Show Us Our Reflection and Nothing Else
“Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearances only.” (Samuel Butler). The countless hours we all spend in front of the mirror getting all gussied up to go out, the extra hours in the gym, the tears we cry and sometimes we don’t even know why—all the extra things we do in our house to make sure that when we go out, we don’t get judged. We make sure that when we go out, we only let people see what we want...

Paul Katkov
DE10: Adroit
Adroit (noun) – clever or skillful in using hands or mind.
In her poem #280, Emily Dickinson describes her insanity caused by her isolation from the outside world. The first time the poem is read, it may seem like she is recalling a moment from her past, which included a funeral of someone she knew – maybe even her parents. If the poem is read closely, it becomes clear that the speaker is not sane. The most obvious part is the rhyming. In the first four stanzas,...

Hannah Hulvey
English II
Balint
22 April, 2013
"Hope" is the thing with feathers: Emily Dickinson
In this poem, Emily is saying how nature is divided or basically, she employs images from nature for contrasting purposes. In this poem nature is both beneficent and destructive. The division is made between the image of the bird and the images of threatening storms and hostile environments. This split corresponds to a separation between inside and outside, between interior and...

English 2 Honors
March 29, 2013
Emily Dickinson
"Nature" is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
In the poem the reader can see her love to nature. The theme of the poem is nature's simplicity, but the poem suggests that nature is anything but...

Emily Dickinson’s poetry is based on her deepest thoughts and life experiences. During her life she endured many tragic deaths of people close to her. This influenced her writing as means of expression and became a recurrent idea in her poetry. Because in her poems she interprets death differently, it can be inferred that she views death as ambivalent and equivocal. Dickinson uses different poetic devices to emphasize the unpredictable character of death. In “I heard the Fly buzz – when I died—”...

An Analytical Essay on Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a woman who lived in times that are more traditional; her life experiences influence and help us to understand the dramatic and poetic lines in her writing. Although Dickinson's poetry can often be defined as sad and moody, we can find the use of humor and irony in many of her poems. By looking at the humor and sarcasm found in three of Dickinson's poems, "Success Is Counted Sweetest", "I am Nobody", and "Some keep the Sabbath Going...

Quasheioh Dukes
Professor Tony
American Literature
4 March 2013
Romanticism is the only literary movement exhibits a wide variety of art, literature and intellect in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This movement has been a topic of ample disagreements over its defining ideologies and aesthetics. It can best be described as a large network of sometimes competing philosophies, agendas, and points of interest. In England, Romanticism had its greatest influence from the end of the...

Contribution of Emily Dickinson in American Literature
It is said that maturation of American letters first took place during the era of American Romanticism, which is also called the American Renaissance era. As stated by Woodlief, during this era, “excitement over human possibilities, and a high regard for individual ego.” It was the time when the natural goodness of man was the primary belief of American people. They were of the notions that natural goodness comes in natural environment...

The poetry of the Imagists is short, simple, and quite literal in its meaning in order to create a vivid picture in the reader's mind. When they describe an object, it means just what they say. A tree is a tree, a flower is a flower, and a bird is a bird. Imagists have little use for abstract words or ideas, and tend to shy away from them as much as possible. Emily Dickinson doesn't fall under the same category as the Imagists, as she doesn't use the same techniques as the Imagists....

Jason R Sayles
Professor Mark McGrath
Literature
3-10-2013
Emily Dickinson vs. Walt Whitman
During the time in American history known as the romantic period, two poets began to stray from the traditional methods of writing poetry. These poets were Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. These two poets led different lifestyles. Oddly enough, there writing was very similar besides having different lengths. “Whitman's poem "Song of Myself, No.6" and Dickinson's poem "This quiet Dust was...

Emily Dickinson in her poem #465, covers the subject of death in a way that I
have not seen before. She delves right into the last sounds she heard when the
narrator died, which was a fly buzzing. The last actions of this world are
concluded by the assigning of "keepsakes", the last few tears while
waiting "the King". And now, in the midst of this silence, Emily
chooses to introduce the buzzing of a fly. This common household pest's
incessant buzz becomes all the dying can hear. The fly is...

Sam Nelson
Fr. Fitzgibbons
English 190
11/25/04
Realism and Romanticism in the Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is generally known as a romantic era poetess, yet she frequently integrated a surprising realism into her romantically styled poetry. Often choosing topics related to realism for her poetry, she enigmatically shrouded her lines in romantic language. Her rich imagination, focus on nature, and use of symbolism thus created a romantic mood in poems otherwise grounded in...

TIME AND ETERNITY IN EMILY DICKINSON'S POEMS 906 and 624.
Once we endeavor to examine the concept of time we have to do it close enough to the concept of eternity. When speaking of eternity Dickinson often uses the circumference  the circle image.
Time flees so vast that were it not
For an Eternity-
I fear me this circumference
Engross my finity (poem 802)
The relationship...

﻿EMILY DICKINSON AND HER USE OF SYMBOLISM
WITH REFERENCE TO THE POEMS IN COURSE-
1- “A NARROW FELLOW IN THE GRASS”
2- “IN WINTER IN MY ROOM”
3- “I YEARS HAD BEEN FROM HOME”
During the mid nineteenth century, Civil war broke out in America. The war left deep bruises on the life of the nation and the normal life of the people were disrupted at all levels. It was not until 1877 that...

Poetry Analysis of
“Death is a Dialogue between” by Emily Dickinson
Death is a Dialogue between
The Spirit and the Dust.
"Dissolve" says Death—The Spirit "Sir
I have another Trust"—
Death doubts it—Argues from the Ground—
The Spirit turns away
Just laying off for evidence
An Overcoat of Clay.
Emily Dickinson’s poem “Death is a Dialogue” depicts the conversation a person’s spirit has with death once the person’s body dies. In this poem death tells the person’s spirit that he is...

I Died for Beauty, but was Scarce
Emily Dickinson
I died for Beauty -- but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died for Truth, was lain
In an adjoining room --
He questioned softly "Why I failed"?
"For Beauty", I replied --
"And I -- for Truth -- Themself are One --
We Brethren, are", He said --
And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night --
We talked between the Rooms --
Until the Moss had reached our lips --
And covered up -- our names --
Emily Dickerson's poetry often has...

“Because I could not stop to death” is a poem of Emily Dickinson about the theme death. Poetically, Emily shows us how death can be soothing and comforting. Death from which everybody is afraid is being described as a happy reality in life and something blissful, comforting and relaxing. Emily describes death as a journey through different steps of life , it brings us to “immortality”. However the journey is filled with both sadness and happiness. According to Emily, death comes in a carriage...

"Success Is Counted Sweetest" by Emily Dickinson basically sends the message that success, like any other possession tangible or intangible, is only appreciated by those whom it is not always readily available. Dickinson both clearly states this message and implies it throughout the poem, and uses rhyme, imagery, and irony to incorporate the theme that the one who holds success dearest to them is the one who never succeeds.
The rhythmic pattern makes the poem flow together, using the rhyme...

In "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" Emily Dickinson explores the tension between life and death. The poem highlights the conflict between life's desire for permanence and the irrepressible and untimely nature of death. While Dickinson's poem presents eternity as the soul's ultimate spoils in this struggle, the tone of the poem suggests that in itself the promise of eternity can provide no comfort to the living. The poem's use of personification, together with a marked shift in tone and...

﻿Emily Dickinson's poems are simply records of her thoughts and feelings of her experiences over the course of a lifetime devoted to reflection, however Dickinson’s main poetry is written about what she knew and what intrigued her. Dickinson explores her own feelings with diligent and often painful honesty.
In "Because I could not stop for Death", there are various themes within the poem. However the main theme explored through out the poem is death, as we see death personified. In the visual...

﻿Belonging is a state in which an individual is able to feel accepted and understood by themselves and the world around them. An individual’s sense of belonging greatly determines the nature of their identity, both in relation to their perception of themselves and the world at large. The state of an individual’s relationships is heavily impacted by their sense of belonging and acceptance within a community, as they continue to conform to or challenge the existing social norms within it. Both...

The Poetry of William Cullen Bryant and Emily Dickinson: The Theme of Death
Many poems are written about death. The two poets William Cullen Bryant and
Emily Dickinson were very influential trancendental writers. Bryant writing
Thanatopsis And Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" are
basically more alike then than they are similar for the fact that there views on
Death are the same, but what happens to you after is what is disimiliar,although
Dickinsons and Bryants poems...

I have read much of Bryant's poems and life, and now, as a reader of Bryant's work, I'm finding it interesting to compare his style to that of other authors of the same time period such as; Emerson, Thoreau, and Dickinson. In this first comparison of Thanatopsis by Bryant and Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily Dickinson, I will contrast the different outlooks on death each author has.
Because I Could Not Stop For Death
1. Poem lyrics of Because I Could Not Stop For Death by Emily...

Emily Dickinson writes her poems using words that can be translated differently by nearly every reader. Though she presents obvious truth when reading the surface of her poems, she provides a creative, much deeper meaning behind the first impression if one dares to expand their minds outside of their normal thought range. “I know that He exists” is a substantial poem that twists the ideas and opinions of our views about God and the life we were created to live.
The theme of the poem is based...

The first stanza opens with a rhetorical statement which compels the reader to anticipate the subject. Its exclamatory finality suggests the persona’s overwhelming response to a potentially metaphysical question. The use of the word ‘pervades’ subsequent to the word ‘mystery’ combine to create an ominous spectral tone. The persona’s sense of belonging is discrepant as reflected by the expansion and contraction of paradoxical subjects present in the latter of the stanza; a typical feature of...

Anonymous December 3, 2012
F.Clancy
Eng 1102
Emily Dickinson poem analysis and critique
"Because I Could Not Stop For Death," is a grim and very well written poem by Emily Dickinson. Her views can be seen throughout several of her works in which all express the same thing; death, but are all expressed in different ways. In that regard the readers can indicate that death...

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Since the very beginning of the appearance of literature, the theme of the death was one of the most important ones. This theme was more prominent in the tragedies than in other literary genres. In ancient Greek, for example, death was used inevitably in odes and was always presented as an obstacle that could never be overcame. In classic tragedies, it is common that the role of death occupies the central role, as in the work of Plato, Phaedo, which narrates the...

"If You Were Coming in the Fall," by Emily Dickinson, expresses how, for a lover, anticipation without certainty causes anguish and misery, contrasting imagery and rhythm in the first four and last stanzas. In the first four stanzas, the imagery, repetition of words, and ballad meter invoke an illusion that dramatizes the insignificance of time. The simple, dreamy phrases "brush the summer by," "wind the months in balls," "only centuries," and "toss [life] yonder like a rind," show the speaker's...

Emily Dickinson’s (1830 - 1886) Poem “Success is counted sweetest” sends the message that success is tangible or intangible and has the highest value for “those who never succeed”. Emily Dickinson twists the meaning of the poem in changing the perspective after the second stanza. Thus that twist offers that the understanding of the value of success is dependent on the point of view.
The point of the first stanza is that the value of success feels the best to those who didn’t succeed for a long...

Emily Dickinson's poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" poses a question to the reader "what is the significance of the buzzing fly in relation to the dying person?" In a mood of outward quiet and inner calm, the dying person peacefully proceeds to bestow her possessions to others, and while willing her possessions, she finds her attention withdrawn by a fly's buzzing. The fly is introduced in close connection with "my keepsakes" and "what portion of me be assignable." The dying person has an...

English 1102
2/20/13
A Characterization of the Narrator in My Triumph Lasted Till the Drums
The speaker in Emily Dickenson’s “My Triumph Lasted Till the Drums” is very torn between rejoicing in the victory in the battlefield, and the regret they feel for the battles losers. The narrator feels pride at first, as shown in line 1 and the title’s use of the word “Triumph” yet that pride quickly turns into regret and disdain. The narrator laments what they feel are senseless acts of war and...